Solar Bears, Aeros and Wild become family

MAITLAND, FLA – When the new owners of the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears introduced the franchise, its slogan was “Out of Hibernation”. Thursday afternoon, they took the next step by taking the expansion team “into the Wild”.
Minnesota Wild that is.
During a press conference at the RDV Sportsplex Ice Den, the ownership introduced its National Hockey League and American Hockey League affiliations. When the team takes the ice in October, the Solar Bears will call the Minnesota Wild and Houston Aeros family.
“Building winning traditions and developing players in a winning atmosphere is what pro hockey and pro sports are all about,” Jim Mill, assistant to the general manager of the Wild, said. “We look forward to developing a great relationship as we go forward and we’re really, really excited to be here in Orlando.”
This past season, the Wild did not have an ECHL affiliate to restock Houston’s roster when call-ups to the parent club occurred, forcing the team to go through several dozen players from various sources. Mill, who also doubles as general manager of the Aeros, said that having a three-level system will make things much easier.
“We’ve been waiting to have the perfect combination in the ECHL to have that three-tiered approach to be able to bring players – part of our system, part of our team, part of our family and organization – into Houston when needed and then ultimately, hopefully they make it to the National Hockey League,” Mill said. “Last year we didn’t have an affiliate and we went through 58 players and took (them) from various places.”
Meanwhile, Solar Bears President Jason Siegel and C.O.O. Bob Ohrablo were looking for the right fit to help them with building their expansion team. When the idea of the Wild and Aeros came around, Siegel’s long friendship with Mill from their days in the ECHL played a key role as did the Wild‘s relationship with the Aeros.
“I worked with Jim in 1997-98. It’s a small community,” Siegel said. “We had an awful lot of conversations with different individuals. We had a list of values and things that we were looking for. At the end of the day, we found a terrific partner and we’re really excited about the opportunity to work with Jim and Chuck Fletcher (Wild G.M.) and their staffs. It was (also) important to us that the NHL team owned the AHL team.”
For Mill, who ironically was on the training camp roster of the very first Solar Bears team that took the ice in the IHL in 1995, the ease of travel and all that Orlando has to offer was a huge selling point.
“I know it’s a great hockey market. They have great fans. They have great facilities and logistically it makes sense because there are several non-stops (flights) between here and Houston on a daily basis,” Mill said. “I trust and know the ownership group here. I know they’re going to run things properly and they’re going to run things in a first-class manner and that’s what we want to provide for our players.”
Siegel said that the three organizations have a working plan in place that will evolve as the off-season goes along and all three start signing players for the coming season. Mill, however, was a little bit more specific about how he expects to utilize the Solar Bears in developing players.
“It’ll be a very traditional NHL-AHL and AHL-ECHL type of relationship. We’ll agree on the number of players (later),” Mill said. “Ideally for me it’s important to have your fifth goalie in your organization here. It’s important to have probably two defensive prospects and two or three forward prospects here and then whatever else we can help with and whatever else they need. When you go through the number of players you do in a given year and I think the average is twelve in each of the systems as opposed to what we went through this year, you end up needing those players.”
Another ironic twist is that when the Solar Bears were in the IHL, they went to the Turner Cup finals three times. The second time around, after the 1998-1999 season, they lost in the final game of the best-of-seven series to the Houston Aeros. Additionally when the Solar Bears joined the IHL in 1995, they faced off against the Minnesota Moose who played at the St. Paul Civic Center and the Target Center in Minneapolis.
“All three cities were IHL cities at one point,” Siegel said. “Now we get a chance to get together and win three championships.”

Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at fotopixl@mac.com
Photos courtesy of John Cox